Hip Hop Congress hosting Day of the Dead art exhibit Friday

Tuesday

Oct 29, 2013 at 12:55 PMOct 29, 2013 at 3:59 PM

By Isaac GuerreroRockford Register Star

ROCKFORD — A Hip Hop festival of music and dance and spoken word. A public exposition of graffiti art. And coming Friday: a free downtown art exhibit celebrating the Mexican tradition known as the Day of the Dead.

Those are just some of the offerings put forth by Rockford Hip Hop Congress since it began in 2008. A group started the organization to celebrate and promote the influence of hip-hop culture on music, dance, art, and the written and spoken word. Run by a dozen 20- and 30-somethings, the Rockford Hip Hop Congress has become one of the city’s hippest arts groups.

Hundreds showed up in April when the group staged its second annual Rock the Campus — a celebration of hip-hop influences on visual art, spoken word, dance and music — at Rockford University. Hundreds more came to Sinnissippi Park in August to see more than two dozen local and Midwest artists produce live graffiti art on giant sheets of plastic wrap.

Mario Martinez hopes the Friday event will be just as big. The 27-year-old social worker by day and graphic artist by night has invited more than 30 local and regional artists to create murals, paintings and sculpture based on the Day of the Dead theme.

Death is something to be feared in most cultures. In Mexico, el Día de los Muertos, which begins at midnight Oct. 31 and continues until Nov. 2, is a huge celebration. Families honor departed relatives and friends by decorating cemetery gravestones, creating elaborate altars and holding vigils to welcome departed spirits home.

“I myself never went to Mexico and took in the tradition,” said Martinez, whose father and mother are, respectively, from Mexico and Chile. “I wanted to do something that tied in hip-hop art — graffiti art, paintings, even sculpture — with different cultures from around the world. This seemed like a good fit.”

“We like what these guys are trying to do,” Ramsden said. “We try to show as much support as we can to the whole downtown art scene.”

The scene is steadily growing, said Martinez.

“As we’ve organized these events, along the way we’ve come across people here in Rockford that have been break dancing or doing hip-hop music for years. There’s all this talent here that’s hidden, just waiting to sprout.”

So what does the future hold?

“We’re looking to expand what we do,” Martinez said. “Since we’re nonprofit, we rely a lot on grants and sponsorships. We’ll continue to do about four public events a year. Beyond that — maybe it will take five years, maybe sooner — we’re hoping to have a place of our own where we can showcase (art), hold workshops and teach.”